Digital Foundry has consistently been one of the most reliable sources discussing the Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo’s next-generation console, which could be launching between March and April of next year.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to feature a SoC with an NVIDIA GPU and an ARM CPU. Initial rumors suggested the console would support 1080p resolution in portable mode and 4K in docked mode, leveraging NVIDIA DLSS technology. However, in a recent video, Digital Foundry revised this assessment, indicating that the final resolution may be lower than initially expected.
Handheld Mode Likely to Use Upscaled 720p
In handheld mode, it’s now believed that the Nintendo Switch 2 will likely run games at an upscaled 720p resolution through NVIDIA DLSS. If confirmed, the actual game resolution could be as low as 360p, upscaled to 720p, meaning only about 50% of the total pixels in each frame would be rendered natively.
Additionally, the use of 900p resolution in handheld mode is also being considered as an option for upscaled output. The possibility of 1080p resolution seems to be reserved for games ported directly from PS4 and Xbox One, meaning that for current-generation titles, the console would likely be limited to 720p or 900p upscaled. This makes sense, given the resource demands of Unreal Engine 5.
Dock Mode Likely to Fall Short of 4K
As for dock mode, it now appears certain that the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be able to achieve 4K resolution, even with upscaling. While Digital Foundry doesn’t provide a specific resolution, they do suggest it won’t be very high. The console may end up rendering demanding games from the current generation at upscaled 1080p, rather than native 4K.
Differentiating between previous-gen and current-gen games is crucial. The Nintendo Switch 2 will perform differently depending on the game’s generation. Current-gen titles, which are more resource-intensive, will likely run at lower resolutions due to their higher graphical demands.
